Instructions

Scope

The Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical or Journal of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine is a multidisciplinary and open-access journal that publishes original research in all fields of tropical medicine (including epidemiology, clinical studies, pathology, and immunology) and infectious diseases. It is the official journal of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine. Review articles are invited, but the Journal also publishes major articles, short communications, case reports, editorials, letters, images in infectious diseases, technical reports, and special numbers (supplements). The Journal, published in English on a bimonthly basis, has a peer-review system. Its content is freely accessible to readers and no publication fees are charged to authors.

From 2016 on, the Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical or Journal of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine received financial support (public funding) solely from the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, CNPq). This financial support was essential to ensure the Journal’s quality, including improved impact factor, increased number of citations, XML generation, and review/editing of the English style and grammar issues of all accepted manuscripts, all of which have been paid by the Journal itself.

Beginning in 2017, the Journal established that, when necessary, it will request authors to pay for the professional English review and editing service of a professional English editing company for the final version of their accepted articles.

Review policy

Submission to the Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical or Journal of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine implies that the manuscript has not previously been published (except in abstract format) and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere.

Manuscripts submitted for publication in our journal are initially evaluated by the administrative staff to ensure compliance with Journal guidelines. Those manuscripts that meet the basic requirements will then be sent to at least two reviewers for evaluation through a peer review system. The Journal editors will use the reviewers’ detailed reports to decide whether to accept a submitted paper. If there is a difference of opinion among the reviewers, the manuscript will be sent to a third reviewer to validate a final editorial decision, in accordance with the submission workflow of the Journal (available online at http://www.scielo.br/revistas/rsbmt/iinstruc.htm#005).

Poor English language use in manuscripts is the major cause of delay in publication. We strongly advise authors with English as a foreign language to have their manuscripts preferably translated and edited by a professional English translation and editing company or checked by a scientist with English as a first language; a copy of the certificate should be sent to the Journal.

The editorial office can be contacted at the following address:

Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical or Journal of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine

The Journal invites the following types of manuscripts for consideration: Major Articles, Review and Mini-Review Articles, Editorials, Short Communications, Case Reports, Technical Reports, Images in Infectious Diseases, Letters, and Special Numbers.

Major Articles: Major Article manuscripts must report original research not previously published or in consideration for publication elsewhere. Major articles have a 3,500-word limit (excluding the abstract, title, and references). Manuscripts must include a structured abstract of no more than 250 words, organized using the following headings: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. The manuscript text should be organized as follows: title, running title, structured abstract, keywords (three to six keywords), manuscript text (introduction, methods, results, and discussion), acknowledgments, conflict of interest statement, financial support, references list, and figure titles/legends. A total of five illustrations (tables and figures) are allowed.

Review Articles: Review articles should present a critical review of recent trends and progress in the study of infectious diseases, rather than a mere literature review, which are usually written at the direct request of the editor. Review articles have a 3,500-word limit (excluding the abstract, title, and references) and should be accompanied by a non-structured abstract of up to 250 words. Five illustrations (tables and figures) are allowed. The Journal also publishes mini-reviews. These articles have a 3,000-word limit (excluding the abstract, title, and references) and must be accompanied by a non-structured abstract of up to 250 words; mini-reviews may contain up to three illustrations (tables and figures). The manuscript should be organized as follows: title, running title, abstract (non-structured), manuscript text, acknowledgments, conflict of interest statement, financial support, references list, and figure titles/legends.

Editorials: Editorial pieces are typically written on invitation, bearing in mind the scope of the journal and its preferred topics. Editorials have a 1,500-word limit, and do not require an abstract and keywords. They may use one illustration (table or figure), and should have a conflict of interest statement and a list of 10 references or fewer.

Short Communications: Short Communication manuscripts should be reports on exciting new results of research or investigation in areas within the scope of the Journal. Such articles have a 2,000-word limit; they should have a structured abstract of no more than 100 words (with the subheadings Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusions) and may include up to 15 references. Up to three illustrations (tables and figures) are allowed. Three to six keywords are allowed. The body of the manuscript should not be divided into topics or subheadings. Acknowledgments, Conflict of Interest Statement, and Financial Support must be included.

Case Reports: Case Reports must be brief reports of up to 1,500 words, with a maximum of three illustrations (tables and figures), up to 12 references, up to three keywords, and a non-structured abstract of up to 100 words. The body of the manuscript should be divided according to the following headings: Introduction, Case Report, Discussion, References, and Figure titles/legends. Acknowledgments, Conflict of Interest Statement, Financial Support must be included.

Technical Reports: Technical reports should be concise reports on the results and recommendations of a meeting of experts. Such reports may be also considered if they are formatted as an editorial.

Images in Infectious Diseases: An “Images in Infectious Diseases” submission must include up to three photographs of the best quality possible. Up to three authors and up to three references are allowed. The maximum length of such an article is 250 words (excluding title and references), with an emphasis on figure description. The themes should involve clinical lessons clarified by appropriate illustrations and figure descriptions.

Letters: Readers are encouraged to write about any topic related to infectious diseases and tropical medicine that fits the scope of the journal. Letters should be no longer than 1,200 words, without abstract and keywords, and with only one illustration (table or figure); Letters may discuss material previously printed in the journal and cite up to 12 references.

Special Numbers: Proposals for supplemental materials must be made in writing to the Editor and/or Guest Editor. They will be evaluated on the suitability of a topic, program organization, or production according to the scope of the journal.

Manuscript preparation

Authors are advised to read these instructions carefully and follow them closely to ensure the timely and efficient review and publication of their manuscript. The Editors reserve the right to return manuscripts that do not adhere to these guidelines.

Online submission system: All manuscripts to be considered for publication in the Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropicalshould be submitted in electronic form via the online submission system at http://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/rsbmt-scielo or http://www.scielo.br/rsbmt. The author must choose one manuscript category from the “Manuscript types” menu: Major Articles, Editorials, Review Articles, Mini-Review, Short Communications, Case Reports, Technical Reports, Images in Infectious Diseases, Letters, Authors Reply or Other (when a submission does not fit in any other category). Authors and co-authors are entirely responsible for the contents of the manuscript.

Cover Letter: a) It must contain a statement to ensure that the proposed manuscript describes original research and is not published or under consideration by another scientific journal. The cover letter must also state that the data/results of the manuscript are not plagiarized. b) The letter must be signed by all authors and, when strictly impossible, the first and the last author may sign by proxy for the other co-authors. c) In the Cover Letter, the authors must include a declaration of their acknowledgment that the manuscript, after submission, may not have the order or the number of authors altered without providing any justification and/or information to Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical. d) The authors must declare that they agree, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, to the transfer of all copyrights to Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical.

Authors’ contribution: Theauthors must include, in a separate document, a statement of authorship responsibility, specifying the contribution of each author to the study.

Pre-Submission Language Editing: All manuscripts submitted to the Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical / Journal of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine must be in English. It is highly recommended that the authors use a professional English editing and/or translation service prior to submission. However, engaging in language editing does not guarantee that the manuscript will be accepted for publication.

Manuscript layout

The manuscript should be prepared using standard word processing software and should use Times New Roman size 12 font with double spacing throughout the text, figure title/legends, and references, with margins of at least 3 cm. Divide the manuscript into the following sections: Cover Letter (addressed to the Editor-in Chief), Title Page, Manuscript Title, Running title, Abstract, Keywords, Manuscript Text, Conflict of Interest statement, Acknowledgments, Financial Support, References, and Figure Titles/Legends. Cover Letter, Title Page, Acknowledgments, and Financial Support must be provided in a separate document. Abbreviations should be used sparingly.

Title Page: The title page should include the authors’ names in direct order and without abbreviations, along with institutional affiliations (e.g., each author’s department, institution, city, state, and country). The complete address of the corresponding author must be specified, including telephone and fax numbers and e-mail address. The number of authors and co-authors per paper should be limited to the actual number of authors that contributed to the manuscript. Except for national and international multicenter studies, up to 20 authors and co-authors will be allowed. The remaining authors’ names will be published in a footnote.

Potential reviewers: Authors are asked to provide names and contact information (e.g., e-mail and institutional affiliations) for three potential unbiased reviewers, from a different institution of the authors.

Title: The title should be as concise, clear, and informative as possible. It should not contain abbreviations and should not exceed 200 characters, including spaces.

Running Title: The running title may include up to 40 characters.

Structured Abstract: The structured abstract should summarize the results obtained and the major conclusions in such a way that a reader not already familiar with the particular topic of the paper can understand the implications of the article. The abstract should not exceed 250 words (100 words in the case of Short Communications) and must be structured with the following headings: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Abbreviations should be avoided.

Keywords: Three to six keywords should be listed in English immediately below the structured abstract.

Introduction: The article’s introduction should be brief, setting out the purposes for which the study has been performed. Previous studies should be cited only when essential.

Methods: The methods used in the study should be reported in sufficient detail so that readers and reviewers can understand precisely what has been done; any description should be thorough enough to allow repetition or replication by others. Standard techniques only need to be referenced; detailed descriptions are not required.

Ethics: When reporting on experiments on human beings, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional, regional, or national) and in keeping with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964, as revised in 1975, 1983, 1989, 1996, and 2000. When reporting on experiments on animals, indicate whether a national research council’s guide for animal experimentation or any law on the care and use of laboratory animals was complied with; the approval number must be sent to the Journal. In case of research on humans, authors must include in the methods section (ethical considerations subsection) a statement that the study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee.

Clinical trials: In the case of clinical trials, the manuscript should be accompanied by the number and agency of register of the relevant clinical trial (REBEC platform). This requirement is in accordance with guidelines set by BIREME/OPAS/OMS, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org), and Workshop ICTPR.

Results: The results section should be a concise and impersonal account of the new information revealed by the study or research in question. Avoid repeating in the text the data presented in the tables or illustrations.

Discussion: The discussion section should directly relate to the study being reported. Do not include a general review of the topic. Keep the discussion concise and relevant.

Acknowledgments: Any acknowledgments should be short, concise, and restricted to those that are necessary. In case of sponsoring institutions, do not use acronyms.

Conflict of Interest: All authors should disclose any type of conflict of interest during the development of the study.

Financial Support: List all the financial support received from agencies, institutions, and other organizations that funded the research in whole or in part.

References: Only references cited in the text should be referenced. They should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals and in Vancouver format as they appear in the text. List all authors when there are up to six. For seven or more authors, list the first six, followed by “et al.” Type the reference list on a separate page at the end of the manuscript, using double spacing.

Numbered references to personal communications, unpublished data, or manuscripts either “in preparation” or “submitted for publication” should not be listed among the references. Papers accepted for publication should be referred to as “in press” and the letter of acceptance of the journal must be provided. Such material can be incorporated at the appropriate place in the text in accordance with the following examples: (AB Figueiredo: Personal Communication, 1980), (CD Dias, EF Oliveira: Unpublished Data). In-text citations should be indicated using the appropriate reference numbers as superscripts to the corresponding word, separated by comma or hyphen when there is a no-range sequence. Example: World1,2 ,Life30,42,44-50 .The references at the end of the manuscript should follow the system used in the uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals (for more information, please see: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine). The titles of journals referenced should be abbreviated according to the style used in the Index Medicus (for more information, please see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals).

Responsibility for the bibliographic citations in the text and reference list lies entirely with the authors.

The following are sample references:

Articles from journals: Last names and initials of the six cited Authors (For seven or more authors, list the first six, followed by “et al.”), full title of the Article (in original language), abbreviated title of the journal (can be found at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals), year of publication, volume number, the first and the last page numbers.

Dissertation/PhD Theses: The Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical or Journal of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine will not accept the citation of dissertations for a master of science, PhD theses, or similar material.

Illustrations: All illustrations should be submitted as separate files and named using only the figure number (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2). All figures should be numbered using Arabic numerals and cited consecutively in the text.

Title and Legends: Titles and legends should be typed at the end of the manuscript with double spacing.

Dimensions: The dimensions of necessary illustrations and figures should not exceed 18 cm wide by 23 cm high. The correct specifications for each figure format are as follows:

Images/Photographs must be submitted in high-resolution TIFF format. Verify that any photograph was taken at a minimum resolution of 600 dpi—preferably between 900 and 1200 dpi—and prepared using an image editing program (e.g., Adobe Photoshop, Corel Photo Paint).

Graphics should be created using any statistical software and saved/exported using the original extensions (.xls, .xlsx, .wmf, .eps. or .pdf).

Maps should be professionally vectorized (drawn) in high resolution using CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator software.

Tables: Tables should be typed with single spacing, include a short descriptive title (positioned above the table), and submitted as separate files. Legends for each table should be placed below the table. All tables should be numbered using Arabic numerals and cited consecutively in the text. Tables should not have vertical lines, whereas horizontal lines should be kept to a minimum. Tables should be a maximum of 18 cm wide by 23 cm high, using Times New Roman, size 9 font.

On Resubmissions and Revisions: The journal differentiates between: a) manuscripts that have been rejected and b) manuscripts that will undergo further consideration after requested changes have been made.

Resubmissions: If you have received a letter of rejection and wish the Editors to reconsider their decision, you may resubmit your manuscript. In this case, your file will be considered a new submission and you will receive a new manuscript number.

Revision: If the peer reviewers recommend revising your manuscript, please send it for a second analysis and review, forwarding the revised manuscript with the same manuscript number as the original.

After Acceptance: Once a manuscript is accepted for publication, the publication process includes the following steps:

A copyright assignment form, provided by the Journal’s Secretary signed by the authors, must be returned to the journal.

Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author to be carefully checked for typesetting accuracy. Changes or additions to the edited manuscript cannot be allowed at this stage of the editing process. The corrected proofs should be returned to the Journal as soon as possible after their receipt by the corresponding author.

Accepted articles will appear in the printed issues of the Journal in the order that they were submitted, revised, and accepted.

Any accepted articles that have not yet appeared in print will be made available online while they await publication in the printed version (ahead of print).

Page Charges: There will be no page charges for publication in the journal.

The Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical or Journal of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine does not provide any kind of translation service.

All manuscripts to be considered for publication in the Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical or Journal of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine should be submitted in electronic form via the online submission system (http://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/rsbmt-scielo).

Journal’s review policy (workflow):

1 – All manuscripts submitted for publication in the Journal are initially evaluated by the Journal’s administrative staff to ensure that the text adheres to the Journal’s rules.

2 – Manuscripts that meet the standards of the journal are evaluated by the Editor, Associate Editors, or Section Editors to determine whether they fit the scope and editorial policy of the Journal. The administrative staff then sends these manuscripts to the Editor-in-Chief.

4 – Each submitted paper is sent to at least two reviewers for a double-blind peer review culminating in an evaluation and comprehensive written report. The manuscript is also sent to reviewers specializing in quantitative methods for analysis. The Editors use these reports to decide whether to accept the paper. If there is a difference of opinion among the reviewers, the manuscript will be sent to a third reviewer to help reach a final decision by the Journal’s editorial board.

5 – Reviewer comments (Free Form Review) are forwarded to the corresponding author (principal contact for editorial correspondence); the corresponding author must answer any queries made.

6 – The authors must respond to the queries and return a revised version of the manuscript. The revised version is sent back to reviewers, who provide a final, reasoned report on the manuscript.

7 – Reviewers’ scores of the manuscript and the authors’ responses are analyzed by the Editor, Associate Editors, or Section Editors.

8 – The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision on accepting the manuscript for publication.

9 – The final editorial decision (acceptance or rejection) is sent to the authors.

10 – The editorial process begins after the manuscript’s official acceptance. Accepted manuscripts are sent for English editing and a full review.

11 – The English review results and edited document are sent to the authors for analysis; the authors must state whether they accept the edited version.

13 – Authors must disclose any conflicts of interest or financial support and must provide a signed copyright assignment form.

14 – Proofs are sent to the corresponding authors to be checked for typesetting accuracy.

15 – The final version of each manuscript is selected, in the order received and edited, for use in issues of the Journal; manuscripts that are ready for publication are sent to Ahead of Print in SciELO Platform.

16 – The printed version of the Journal is published on a bimonthly basis; the Journal is also available online in open access form at http://www.scielo.br/rsbmt.